Knights need impact import player this fall

There’s little doubt the Knights will pick a talented player in the Canadian Hockey League’s import draft Thursday morning.

They have to make sure, though, he isn’t quite NHL-ready yet.

A year ago, London took Swedish forward Jesper Bratt, a sixth-round pick of New Jersey. He appeared in one exhibition game at Budweiser Gardens, then joined the Devils and never came back.

The long-shot teenager ended up fifth on New Jersey in scoring with 35 points in 74 games. The Devils were a playoff team, so it wasn’t like he got stuck with a desperate bottom-feeder, either.

“It was a hit to the program last year,” Knights GM Rob Simpson said. “You had an elite player coming in. We only knew Jesper for a short time, but if the kid is ready to make the NHL, that’s what it’s all about. He had a good season and showed he should have been there.

“We’re happy for him in the small amount we got to know him.”

They realized right away they were dealing with a special — and driven — person.

“When he came in, I remember saying to Dale, ‘This kid gets it,’” Simpson recalled. “He’s going to be a really good player because he was doing all the right things. He would show up early for main camp, do his stretching and he had a pre-game routine all set up for him.

“But it was definitely surprising because you don’t see a lot of six rounders (make it so quickly).”

The jolt to the roster was right up there with Victor Mete cracking the Canadiens lineup and Olli Juolevi being sent back to Finland by the Canucks instead of London for more seasoning.

The Knights ended up without a European. That shouldn’t happen this time around.

“We want an impact player that can come in and make a difference in our lineup, be it a 17, 18, or 19-year-old, and help win games next year,” Simpson said. “It’s not so much based on age at this point.”

The Knights are planning on making two picks. Their first — at 42nd overall — will likely be higher as a handful of teams are expected to pass. Guelph, for example, already is banking on two returning imports.

They are also slotted to pick at No. 102.

The other import wildcard is London property Adam Boqvist, the skilled Swedish defender selected eighth overall by the Blackhawks in this past weekend’s NHL draft.

The Knights took him last year, too, and are permitted to protect his major junior rights. He is under contract with the club Brynas back home, but will going to a Chicago team that has a friendly history with London change anything?

Just look at how Vancouver opted to loan Juolevi to a pro team overseas as a recent example of an NHL club’s influence.

The Knights will have a core of young players and they expect goaltending to be a strength. They have to navigate this import draft with a lot of variables, though.

“Your roster depends on what happens with NHL teams,” Simpson said. “You could lose (Alex) Formenton and (Evan) Bouchard (to the Senators and Oilers respectively). Last year, we thought our defence would be a strength with Juolevi, Mete, Bouchard and (Brandon) Crawley. When NHL main camps were done, three of those four weren’t in the lineup.

“Then, it drastically changes what your needs are. For us, it’s really going to depend on some of those older players who are really close to making an NHL team.”

GOALIES A GO: President David Branch and the Canadian Hockey League certainly aren’t making a big deal of it, but teams are allowed to select goaltenders in the import draft again. It’s a long overdue move.

Five years ago, the ban was put in place to help Canadian stoppers get more crease time. But those issues go much deeper than the junior level, right from getting top athletes in net in the first place, to coaching and development.

If you’re the best development league in the world, you need the best players in it, regardless of position. Too many strong European goalies ended up in the United States Hockey League.

“I think it’s going to make it a more competitive environment overall,” Simpson said. “It’s going to make it harder (for shooters) to score and produce, and that’s what it’s like at the next level.”

There is a sense that more European players this year are willing and more interested to play in the CHL than last season. And with goalies back in play, there is another option for teams making import picks.

HLINKA TIME: Former Junior Knights stars Ryan Suzuki and Brett Budgell were named to Hockey Canada’s summer under-18 selection camp roster Tuesday and they’ll be favourites to make the team heading to the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton in August.

Suzuki, the OHL’s first overall pick last year, had 14 goals and 44 points in 64 games for the Barrie Colts. Budgell, originally from Newfoundland, started last season with the USHL’s Chicago Steel before joining the Quebec league’s Charlottetown Islanders. He posted 10 goals and 22 points in 32 games, then buried six goals and 12 points in 18 playoff contests.

The camp, which includes 44 players, runs in late July at Calgary.

Hockey Canada might want to get Knights defender Andrew Perrott, a dual citizen, in its sights this season before it’s too late. The impressive 16-year-old is attending USA Hockey’s Select 17 development camp in Amherst, N.Y.

CAMP TIME: Undrafted Knights centre Billy Moskal was invited to Blue Jackets development camp, along with first-rounder Liam Foudy. Nathan Dunkley earned a look from the Los Angeles Kings . . . Being the youngest in franchise history to play an NHL regular-season game doesn’t exempt you from development camp. Formenton is with the Senators this week and so is first-rounder Brady Tkachuk, who must decide this summer if he’ll turn pro or go back to school at Boston University.

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